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Lianne Dalziel wins Christchurch mayoralty

Lianne Dalziel has been elected Christchurch Mayor with a commanding majority.

With 98 percent of the vote counted Ms Dalziel has received more than 70,403 votes - more than 70 percent of the current tally.

Her closest rival, Paul Lonsdale, has received only 22,215 votes so far.

However Mr Lonsdale, who was also standing for council, is in the running for a seat on the Hagley-Ferrymead board.

Ms Dalziel had been waiting at her home in Christchurch for the news, and says she is "over the moon" with the result.

"It's going to be a great council and we're really going to focus on the recovery of the city," she says.

"Since the earthquakes have occurred I think people have felt the city hasn't really lived up to its role in the recovery.

"We can do that, this is a council that can do that and I think the Government will be pretty impressed as well."

Ms Dalziel is pleased with the landslide victory, saying it would give her a "mandate to speak for the city".

"We wanted to be in a position where we could speak for the city and develop that high-performing operation that people have been looking for."

Ms Dalziel will spend her first night as mayor-elect speaking at a friend's wedding – which unintentionally clashed with her own big day.

Several well-known local councillors are set to lose their seats with both incumbent Shirley-Papanui councillors, Ngaire Button and Aaron Keown, losing their seats. They will be replaced by broadcaster Ali Jones and community board worker Pauline Cotter.

Long serving councillor Helen Broughton has also missed out on a seat, losing her Riccarton-Wigram ward to former mayor Vicki Buck.

Ms Dalziel, 53, recently vacated the Christchurch East electorate seat to run for mayor, after spending several years as Labour's quake recovery spokesperson.

Born and raised in Christchurch, she has been in Parliament since 1990. She has held a range of Cabinet portfolios over her career, including food safety, ACC, commerce, women's affairs, immigration and senior citizens.

Around 1500 late votes are yet to be counted with a finalised decision to be announced next week.

The highest polling candidates for the Christchurch City Council so far are: